


Feel You There

by NotesFromSarah



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Introspection, Love, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24531361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotesFromSarah/pseuds/NotesFromSarah
Summary: Kanan and Hera have been working together for a while now, living day by day and feeling closer to each other than ever before. Hera invites Kanan to help her fixGhostwhich makes their growing attraction impossible to deny. Kanan/Hera. Set pre-Star Wars: Rebels. One-shot. Canon compliant.
Relationships: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Feel You There

Whenever she entered the room, he knew. He didn’t have to see her, or hear her to know. The hairs on the back of his neck would stand up and a small shiver would race down his spine. Every time.

He had tried to ignore it. He had told himself to keep it cool, play it safe and take it easy. Easier said than done. The harder he tried to ignore her, the less it seemed to work. Act natural, he told himself, but behaving naturally around her didn’t come, well, naturally. Kanan had never felt like this before, and he kind of liked it.

It had taken Kanan a while to get used to having Hera around. It had been a long time since he lived and worked in such close company with another person. Really, it hadn’t been since he was a boy. On board _Ghost_ it seemed that he and Hera preformed some kind of strange dance where he was in the way and Hera needed him to move, a lot. It wasn’t easy learning to work closely with another person.

“Kanan,” Hera’s voice came from the cockpit area, “would you get me down a medium size hydrospanner from the top storage.” Hera lay head and shoulders inside an access panel under the dashboard.

Top storage referred to a series of cabinets that lined the walls in _Ghost’_ s storage closet. Hera had found that Kanan was tall enough to be handy when it came to fetching things from high places. Kanan sometimes wondered what she did before he was around to reach high shelves for her.

Nimbly retrieving the tool, Kanan handed it to Hera, trying not to act weird when her hand brushed his as she accepted it.

“Thanks.” Hera leaned up flashed him a smile before crawling deeper inside the panel.

Kanan smiled back, feeling foolish as he did so. He sat down next to her on the floor of the cockpit and pretended to watch what she was doing.

She was always so mysterious to him. She was so strong, and fierce, and well, she was just good. She was a good person and she made him feel like a better person just by being around her. She never tried to figure him out, or solve him, she just let him be who he was. She had never even asked about who he was before they met, she was okay with him just being him.

“Do you want to see what I’m doing here?” She indicated to the panel she had open and the wires and pipes that lay in a tangle inside. “I’m doing some rerouting and I thought you might want to know in case you need to fix up _Ghost_ sometime.”

“You would let me fix _Ghost_? In what universe?” Kanan didn’t know why he had to be so obtuse.

Hera gave him a look. “Yeah, you can fix _Ghost,_ but I’m going to teach you the right way first.”

Kanan felt a little chastened, but he also felt a surge of hope rush through him. If Hera was planning to teach him how to fix _Ghost_ , Hera was planning for him to be around for a long time. Hera was planning a future, and it included him.

Kanan shifted to kneel next to her. “Okay, what’ve you got here.” Even if she hadn’t invited him, Kanan would have probably hung around and watched anyway, unless she chased him off or something.

Hera started explaining what she was doing, pointing to various boards and switches. After a moment or two she must have realized that Kanan wasn’t really paying close attention because she thrust a pair of wire cutters into his hand. “So now you can try, I need you to divert power from the running lights to the shields, I’m making a power bypass that will keep _Ghost_ in the air longer if we fall under attack.”

Kanan swallowed a bit. He knew his way around basic ship repair, but Hera was magic at it. She knew every inch of her ship, and could manipulate it like no other. She scooted out of the access panel allowing Kanan to slide in where she had been laying. Looking at the array before him he scanned for something that seemed like a running light power source. Seeing no obvious contender, he decided to take a gamble and start with the purple wire that crisscrossed the underside of the dashboard.

Hera sucked in her breath but didn’t say anything. Kanan paused. Glancing out at Hera he moved his wire cutters from the base of the purple wire, to a blue one. Again she didn’t say anything but the concerned look on her face told him enough. Kanan’s hand drifted away from the blue in an uncertain direction. Now he really wasn’t sure. He was also beginning to regret volunteering to make a fool of himself.

“Try the yellow one.” Hera laid a comforting hand on Kanan’s leg, her tones reassuring.

Kanan’s heart skipped a beat at her touch. “The what?” he said dumbly.

“The yellow wire, not the blue one.” Hera gestured with her other hand.

Kanan looked at Hera for a long moment, then it clicked for him. “Oh yeah, the yellow wire.” Looking back at the array of wires the yellow one seemed so obvious now. Trying to ignore Hera’s hand, Kanan deftly cut the wire and began rerouting it to Hera’s specifications. Seemingly less concerned now, Hera sat back and folded her hands in her lap as she watched Kanan work.

Kanan felt the pressure as he worked on establishing the bypass. He didn’t look at her, and she didn’t say anything, but her presence so close to him was so loud it was almost deafening. The seconds ticked by tortuously slow. Sweat beaded on Kanan’s brow, trying to think only of systems bypass and not at all about the gentle touch of a delicate hand. He wasn’t having much luck.

Abruptly, Hera rose, breaking the tension. “I need to get some tubes for the bypass, I’ll be back in a minute.” Kanan, pretending to be focused on his work and just nodded as she went to the storage closet.

* * *

Inside the closet, Hera paused behind the door and fanned herself with her hand. Breathing deeply for a moment she tried to calm her thoughts. “I’m being silly,” she told herself as she began rummaging through her supplies, trying to clear her head. Kanan was great to have around. He was helpful and charming and easy to get along with, but it could be very hard to be around him. She had realized shortly after they had started working together that she was _aware_ of him. She tried not to let on, but it was difficult. She could feel the energy in the room shift when Kanan entered. He was distracting to say the least. No matter how hard she tried, it seemed like they were always in each others way. Sometimes she felt as though Kanan could see right through her. A small part of her really liked it.

Hera opened one bin, then another, trying to remember what she had come in here for. Mostly, it had been to get away from Kanan. Having him close was great, but lately it also felt kind of terrifying. She was so good at being in control, so good at being a mystery, a sort of phantom that came and went without restriction. She was ephemeral and no one could catch her or pin her down. Except Kanan, well, he grounded her. He saw her, really _saw_ her. When he looked at her he wasn’t seeing an optimistic green Twi’lek, or a hotshot pilot, he saw her. Hera.

Closing the bins, Hera looked up at top storage. Maybe what she wanted was up there. Opening the cupboard door, she grabbed hold of the bottom shelf and hoisted herself up, placing her feet on top of the bins she had previously pawed through. She stood on her toes as she peered into the cabinet.

“Get it together, now is not the time to be distracted.” Hera could never remember being in a situation quite like this before. She had worked side by side with many beings over the years, and not a few of them were handsome and charming and magnetic. None of them had so much as made her take a second look. Yet, here she was. Smitten like a schoolgirl. All because of that dopey smile and those searching eyes.

“Did you find the, uh, tubes yet?” Kanan stood in the doorway ending Hera’s respite. Oh yes, she had been looking for tubes.

“Yeah, I have some here somewhere.” Hera glanced down from her position to see Kanan looking right at her. “They aren’t in here, though.”

“So this is how you get to top storage when I’m not around.” Kanan looked at her precarious perch. “I always wondered how you managed it.”

“There’s nowhere on _Ghost_ that I can’t get to.” Hera looked away from him, leaning back so she could climb down off the bins.

“Let me help you,” Kanan offered, reaching out to help her.

Hera hesitated, she didn’t need his help. He knew that, of course. But he wanted to help her, and she wanted it too. She smiled a little and took his hand. She hopped from the bins, guided by Kanan’s helping hand.

As her feet hit the floor she suddenly realized just how small this closet was. She could feel her heart racing as she stood inches away from Kanan. Her fingers clasped in his. Her eyes locked on his. “Thanks.”

A long, awkward moment passed between them before Kanan suddenly dropped her hand to rub the back of his neck. “So, tubes.”

“Tubes,” she echoed, crossing her arms just to have something to do with them. She turned back to the bins and opened the one she had searched through earlier, except this time she remembered what she was looking for. It took her only a moment to locate the tubes. She always kept things neat and organized, never a bolt or screw out of place. She couldn’t believe that he had gotten so far under her skin he had made her forget what she even came in here for.

“Need anything else?” Kanan asked, looking around the closet.

“No, this is everything.” Hera held up the tubes trying to act normally. “Let’s go.”

Both of them tried to exit from the small room at the same time, but that just resulted in a two-person traffic jam in the doorway. Hera looked at Kanan a touch exasperated. “Kanan you’re-”

“-In the way,” he finished with a sheepish smile. “Sorry.” He stepped back allowing her to press past him and exit the closet. Kanan followed after and the two of them headed back to the cockpit. Hera felt like the air between them had somehow grown thick and heavy. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the present moment again.

Entering the cockpit, Hera was about to take her place in the access panel when Kanan brought her to a halt with a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I thought I was supposed to be doing this.”

“Okay, no problem.” Hera sat back from the access panel, allowing Kanan to take his place on the floor once again. “Just do what I tell you.” That was simple enough. This bypass wasn’t anything difficult, she could do it in her sleep. Explaining it to Kanan wasn’t going to be difficult at all.

Kanan picked up a hydrospanner. “Is this what I need?”

“Not exactly,” Hera said as she took it from him. She pressed a better tool into his hand trying to ignore the heat that flushed through her. Normally Kanan wasn’t so dumb about which tool was for what, something must have come over him.

Kanan accepted the new tool, and following her instructions began to install the tubes to finish the bypass. Hera leaned close to make sure he was doing everything to her liking. _Ghost_ had to run at peak efficiency, neither of them could afford a screw up. Their bodies being in such close proximity, however, sure made it really hard to think straight. Hera closed her eyes for a second trying to re-focus herself, but it wasn’t any use. She didn’t have to see him to feel his presence all around her.

“There, is that it?” Kanan asked, interrupting her thoughts. Hera opened her eyes to see Kanan gesturing at the installed tubes.

“Yes, that’s great,” she said, without really looking at them. She’d come back and take a closer look later when she wasn’t so distracted.

Leaning back she let Kanan out of the access panel. “Should I close it up?” Kanan asked, crouching on the floor opposite her.

“I’ll clean up and put everything away later.” Hera reached out to take the tool he was still holding so she could put it back in her small toolbox. Her hand rested on his, all thought of the tool erased from her mind. The pair looked at each other in silence for another long, awkward moment.

“Hera,” Kanan said, breaking the tension.

“Yes,” she replied, not exactly sure what she wanted him to say...or do.

“I’m glad you wanted me to help you.”


End file.
